The Beginnings
by LilyAnnLou
Summary: set after the tenth power back in merithurous.new merithurous, means new beginnings for calwyn,darrow, tonno keela ect.but is the power to much for calwyn to bare alone? chapter 2 is up FINALLY!
1. Nightmares&Obligations

**this story is set after the crew of fledgewing gets back to merithurous after The Tenth Power. i'm trying to make everything even the charecters as close to how it was in the book. hope you like it :)**

**Disclaimer: none of these charecters belong to me, niether does this series. unfortunatly. :p**

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T h e B e g i n n i n g s

**ChapterOne**

_Nightmares_**&**Obligations

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**_ Calwyn's POV_**

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…_Her feet beat against the hard ground as she ran. Where she was running she could not see for the sky was dark without even the light of stars to guide her. Who she was running to was a girl, her friend. The girl's screams pierced the night and grew louder as Calwyn neared. Her heart pounding against her chest, and the sound of her feet pounding against the ground combined to create one nerve-wracking song. At last Calwyn reached a clearing. Two dark figures came into view. One crouched over the other stabbing it repeatedly. The figure being stabbed was clearly Mica. Her golden eyes locked on her murderer. A scream rose in Calwyn's throat but she pushed it back down. The killer raised her knife once more to finish the job. Mica's gold eyes began to flutter as death came upon her. Calwyn couldn't take it anymore. She opened her mouth to yell, to stop the assassin._

"_Stop!" She heard herself say. Her voice sounded far away, as if she wasn't really there. The figure with the knife paid her no attention and brought the knife down hard once more eliciting a cry from the already half dead Mica._

"_Stop, I said! You're killing her!" Calwyn opened her mouth once more to yell at the killer but no words came out, for the assassin had turned to face her. For once the heart that had been pounding in Calwyn's breast as she ran stopped, if only for a second. The assassin stared back at her with cold hard eyes, brown and unforgiving. Hair like black silk and a scowl on her beautiful but enraged face. Calwyn's hand flew to her chest as a sob broke from her. The assassin was her. _

Calwyn woke with a start. The place where Darrow had lay was cold and vacant as she knew it would be. He said it would be easier to leave with her sleeping, but it only made the aching feeling in her chest deepen when she woke and he was not there. The past months she had taken to slipping into his bedchamber at night. During the months of their pursuit of Samis she had grown so used to the sound of his light breathing beside her, his hand thrown casually across her waist. Now she couldn't seem to sleep without it. Though Darrow had left in the dark of night, it was not his departure that had awakened her. It was the frighteningly real nightmare that seemed to torment her each night. Every night she would wake, screaming from some hideous dream. It became systematic that she would wake, scream, Darrow would then soothe her, and she would lay awake the rest of the night in his arms, too frightened to go back to sleep, lest the nightmare returned. This night no one was here to soothe her back to sleep, there were no strong arms to protect her from whatever lurked in the dark spaces of the room.

Slowly she rose from the bed pulling the sheet with her and walked out onto the balcony where the early morning sky was spangled with stars. Calwyn leaned against the rail and watched Merithurous sleep. Still as she waited for the sun to rise, images from her dream taunted her. The mirror image of herself. There was Mica, Tonno, and Halassa, and Trout. There was Darrow and Keela. And there was Samis. The thought of him sent chills down her spine. She saw their last confrontation. Saw the resigned look in his face as she sent him off. She saw Mica's empty gold eyes, heard Trout's sobs. Obligations. People she loved, people she loathed, but all obligations. Then she pushed them all away.

The sun was rising over Merithurous gradually lighting the palace with faint gold light. There would be things to take care of today in Darrow's absence. Arguments to settle, meetings to be arranged, speeches to make. Calwyn cringed. She had never been good at speaking. Nevertheless she would have to, Darrow trusted her to keep the peace while he was away and she would try her best. Reluctantly she returned to her own bedchamber and dressed. It would be a long day.

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**Howd u like the first chapter? ive been thinking about doing a chanters fic for a long time but never got to it. im on spring break so i have time!yay.ok so review. i need feedback to make it better.:) -lilyannlou**


	2. A Sister

_OMG im back! its unbelievable. I havent updated this story in a long time but lately ive been getting emails about it and so i was inspired to start it up again. I was so confused about where to start but i think i did a somewhat good job of making it sound like the actual charecters. If i didnt im totally open to critisism, it makes my work better! Anyways i know alot of people dont read kate constable but i hope whoever IS reading it enjoys it, thanks for waiting patiently. :) _

**ChapterTwo**

_A sister_

It was the second time that afternoon that Calwyn ached to bolt from the room. She could feel her eyes become moist, her voice faltered. How could one person challenging her cause her to doubt herself so? How she hated the eyes that watched her every move. Waiting. They were all waiting for her to make a slip. Waiting for her to say, or do something wrong. That would satisfy them, confirm their suspicions.

As she looked around the room she could imagine the thoughts of the men around her. _What was Darrow thinking, leaving a woman with power in his absence?_ _She is about as capable of running this place, as a child._ With her heightened sense of power she didn't have to imagine what everyone was thinking, she could _feel_ it. She could feel Fenn's fierce irritation at her incompetence, the black clad sorcerer's unmasked doubt. And the rebels and courtiers both flustered and upset with Darrow's decision to leave her in charge.

The only person in the room that held no feeling of jealousy or doubt sat to the right of her, with an encouraging smile upon her beautiful face. Keela winked at Calwyn in that charming way of hers as she stood. The former third princess of Merithurous appraised the room of men, sorcerers, rebels and courtiers alike. She shook her head as she paced around the room, a lovely smile playing on her full lips. "Friends," she began. "Hear me." She began circling the table around which all the men sat, softly brushing her hand along their backs.

"There are no foolish men here, no one incapable of helping rebuild this land." "You are all _strong_ and able men are you not?" She said stopping where Fenn sat, giving him a small squeeze on the shoulder.

The arrogant man at once sat a little straighter, raised his chin a little higher. Keela continued her walk around the room.

"The restoration of Merithurous cannot be achieved without the aid of all you fine men. Merithurous needs leaders, sensible, skilled men like yourselves. Together we can change the way the people of this land think. Together, we can change Merithurous."

Everyone's eyes in the room followed her, as if they were all bewitched, including Calwyn's. _Like Samis._ Calwyn thought ruefully. Calwyn remembered the way Samis's words flowed, as smooth and sweet as the honey of Antaris. How he could persuade almost anyone to do anything. Keela evidently shared his gift. All of the men sat a little straighter, Keela's little speech making them feel a bit more important. But as Keela's smile vanished they became uneasy.

"Yes, it will be a wondrous day when Merithurous becomes new, but my brothers, I fear it shall never be if…" Her lips became a hard line as she studied the men who were hanging on to her every word. Then her eyes locked with Calwyn. She turned back to the men. "That day, that day of achievement will never come unless we all work together. _All_ of us, including the women." A slow smile spread across Calwyn's face.

"I deem you all foolish men if you cannot see the power that flows throughout this woman standing here." She said nodding to Calwyn. "The lord of the black palace did not leave his ring with her without reason, is there anyone that doubts that?" Her voice suddenly hard, challenging the mean. "Are you so proud, so set in your ways that you cannot take orders from a woman?" "You cannot deny the power that she holds."

Calwyn appraised the woman standing across the long table from her. Keela's pale blue eyes burned with determination as she dared each and every one of the men to contradict her.

How different Keela was from the woman Calwyn had met almost a year ago in the Palace of Cobwebs. The self absorbed woman who had called Calwyn a little _nadu_, and _plain_. She was the woman who time and again compromised the safety of Calwyn's friends. But now things were different. _Keela _was different. Of course she still had her charms, but now there was a different air about her. She no longer used her wits to hurt and manipulate others. She used them to better Merithurous and her friends. So could Calwyn actually call Keela her friend?

The words of Briaali sounded in her mind. _You and she will be bound together for all time. You were both reborn from the Knot of the Waters; you are sisters now. _

Yes, Keela was a friend. And she was fast becoming a sister, as Briaali had predicted. Though Calwyn was happy to have a new friend, her mind took on another track. She began to think again of a girl who was once her friend. A girl who was once her sister.

_Did you like it? Did you not like it?REVIEW ANYWAYS! please, and thankyou :) 3d chapter should be up this weekend maybe._


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